Monday 2 September 2013

How to write good fiction stories

  Fiction is a branch of literature in a story form that may be short or long, written by an author in a way that, lives of fictitious characters are made to come alive in the various roles they play in the untrue story the author has created from his/her own imagination.
  Many people say writers are born with pens in their hands and storytelling in their heads, but let me tell you this, anyone interested in becoming a writer can become one, if he/she is ready to learn. All you need to do is, read wide and learn from other writers and published authors.
  Here are a few tips to get you started in your journey to writing a good fiction story.

  TIPS:

 * Have a good and catchy story idea.

 * Find out the genre the the story idea falls into.For example, a story idea of this sort, 'Kate falling in love with Justin in a city where she was lonely and hardly knew anyone. She needed love and someone special beside her and when caring, handsome and dashing looking Justin came along, she fell head over heels in love with him,' will fall in the genre of romance than any other genre.

 * Pick u p books from that genre you want to write on and read them taking note of the way they are written, the paging and formatting and other aspects you can observe as you read them.

 * Your story idea is ready in your hands, you are acquainted with the genre you want to write on, the next thing to do is,to follow the steps I have written out below, it will be of great help to you.

  STEPS:

  1. PLOT: the story you are about to write has to follow an order from the starting point to the finishing point and the events have to follow in sequence so that one event will lead to the other accordingly. So you have to map out a plan and follow it accordingly. The story has to have a beginning, a middle and an end.

 2. SETTING: the story has to take place in an environment at a particular period, so you have to create the place to blend with the time, era, culture and world that best suits it. A story that took place in a medieval period will look absurd and unrealistic when written to take place in the modern times.

 3. CHARACTERS: the people you use in the story are the characters. You have to get characters that are well developed with actions to play out the roles you have allocated to them and these characters actions have to seem realistic to your readers.

 4.POINT OF VIEW: what point of view do you want to use in writing out your story? Is it a first person point of view, second person point of view or third person point of view? Is it third person limited or third person omniscient? You should make a choice of using the one that will flow better with you.

 5.DIALOGUE: this is how your characters interact with one another. The way the speak to one another and the actions that follow their speech. You have to show and not tell. Let your characters speak in a manner that befits their status and educational levels, check out character profiles.

 6. STYLE: write in your own way, never copy someone's work be original in your work and you'll discover your own voice as you grow in your career. As you write, your readers will be able to identify your style from the way you craft and write your story, keep it original and let your work seem original.

 7.WORKSHOP: attend or join writers workshops where you'll meet like minds and both published and unpublished writers that can be of help to you in your career as a writer. There you'll share ideas and trainings that will be highly beneficial.

 8. CRITIQUE GROUPS/FORUMS: join critique groups and forums where your story will be critiqued and you'll also critique other writers work that are starters like you or professionals that will bring out the best in your work. But, remember to take the criticism in good faith and make corrections where necessary.

 9. EDIT: when you have corrected the story, read and reread it. If possible, give it to someone else to read it and edit it for you, they'll see some mistakes you may have passed by or you can send  to a professional editor that will go over the story and make the necessary corrections and you'll pay a small fee.

 10. PUBLISHING: your story is now ready to go out into the final stage, send it out to an agent or publisher that seeks for submissions in the genre you have written.

  Good luck! 






 

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